Organizing Homeschool

It seems like organizing homeschool supplies and how we set up our spaces is a common theme so I thought I'd take a few minutes and post our space. This is (at least) the 4th different method we've had and it seems to be working the best (so far). We are renting so everything you see is mobile, nothing permanent and nothing adhered with anything more than nails or screws. 

You will notice a lot of Ikea, because it's affordable and it works. None of the links below are affiliate links because this blog isn't a business. It's mostly just a way to keep my ideas organized and share homeschool plans with my husband.

Right now our calendar time board is in the kids' room. Most of our schooling takes place in our dining room but since we also entertain in that space we didn't want this on the wall in that room.  This works okay, but ideally I'd separate it from their sleep/play space. They're easily distracted when we are in there.

Cork Boards*- Jo-Ann
Calendar, numbers, and months - hand-me downs from my mother
Spanish months - Mardel
Book holders - spice racks from Ikea

*Cork boards are expensive and I am "frugal" so instead of buying a 4' board, I bought 2 smaller unframed cork boards on sale at Jo-Ann's (looks like they are currently on sale again). The cork is really thin and peeled easily so I covered them in a cheap neutral fabric from Wal-mart. The sticky pieces to adhere them to the wall didn't work and peeled off the drywall texture (at our old house) so it was better to just nail/screw through them into the wall.


For independent work time:

small "desks" - side tables from Ikea
Little Tikes plastic chairs - consignment find
art easel* - Ikea

*I wish it was magnetic so we could use it for magnetic numbers and letters. I think I'm going to add a magnetic board or cookie sheet to the wall for that instead.  

Paw Patrol back drop is left over from her birthday party - totally not permanent. I got some large maps for free before I left teaching at my high school. They're nice enough to go up permanently but I'm waiting until we start our "new school year" in the Fall.

 

Art/Office Supplies, Small Activities, Tools - Shoe Organizer from Wal-mart

I totally stole this idea from Pinterest, and I love it a little too much. At one point I had two of these used in this manner in our house in addition to two in my kids' rooms for shoe storage. By the way, there's a cheaper version in-store at Wal-mart for about $5, or at least there used to be.

We also have a drawer for art supplies we use regularly in what looks like a sideboard in our dining area but actually serves to store my sewing/craft supplies. It's the stuff we use most often like crayons, paints, markers, colored pencils, and glue. For my mental health I really wanted it with everything else but it works really well being right next to the tables where work is done so I left it alone.

  

This is our main closet for homeschool storage and supplies. (I guess most people use it as a linen closet.) The clear bins and white buckets are organized by month/season or by subject. Each month I take out what we need from the appropriate bin/bucket and put it on our cart (shown below) or in our sensory bin for the month. Inside the month/season bin I include everything that is specific to that theme - like books, sensory bin supplies (in a large zip lock bag), and anything we do only in that month. For ongoing subject activities (like Math and Reading) I keep it grouped by subject.  

Monthly/Subject supplies - Clear bins from Ikea 

This cart is how we honor my husband's request that the dining room table is still usable for meals.  When we are done for the day we can load our things from the dining room table into it and roll it back to the closet.  It also serves as a symbolic "start" and "end" to "school."

The bottom shelf holds the month's bin (except for the two seasons that are too big - Christmas and Valentine's). Since most of the supplies are set out in their "home" for the month (sensory bin items in that bin, books on the shelf, etc.) this bin now only holds extra activities and supplies that I know we need for specific activities or projects. The middle shelf holds workbooks, chalk boards, white boards - basically anything we write on. The top shelf has become a catch-all for the stuff that doesn't fit elsewhere but that we are using that week - a "junk drawer" of sorts that lets us clean up quickly.

Weekly supply storage - Rolling Cart from Ikea

 

Emphasized play and frequently read books. Animal bins hold toys for homeschool play in rotation - puppets, musical instruments, soft balls, etc. Free play toys are stored in their room. Yes, this is in my living room. And don't you love the picture frames I got for Christmas but have yet to fill?


Storage for unit studies, workbooks, leveled readers, teacher manuals, and unit studies. The magazine files hold books and activities by theme (insects, civics, reptiles, ocean). Within the magazine files the themes are separated by file folders.

Honestly, it was a fair amount of work to get everything sorted out this way but it was so worth it. I was so sick of knowing I had supplies or books but not knowing where.  Or worse, completing forgetting what we had because it was buried in a box.  So far keeping it this way has been easy because the kids are trained regularly to pick up what they get out.  Also, they helped me organize the things that mattered to them (like their toys) and now they are pretty picky about where things "go."

Studio Reorganization

Some how, after every project, my studio is an overwhelming disaster.  I knew after the holidays were over that I needed to find a solution.  I cannot work in chaos, it sucks the life right out of me.  So here's what I started with:

I'm pretty embarressed to even admit to these photos, but it's the truth.  It just wasn't working for me.  So I cleaned out and reorganized.

 I started with my closets.  I couldn't see what I had so I ended up dragging it all out into my work space and digging through it.  I pulled out all my fabric and separated it by type and color.  Then I organized my scraps the same way, using the ziplock bags and bins to hold them.  Same for ribbons, bias tapes, etc.  I used an old embroidery floss box to separate buttons.  The large boxes at the bottom of one closet hold yards of apparel fabric that are waiting for the some day that I need them.  As well as clothing that waits to be repurposed.

And I cleaned out all the rest of my shelves, getting rid of anything without purpose.  I rearranged so that I can use the extra boards and shelves from our garage and we don't have to buy anything new.  I now use the shelves beneath my cutting table to hold completed orders that need to be shipped and current projects (and their supplies).

So far, so good - my studio is working much better.  Even when I do make a mess, it's faster to clean up.  Of course, it also takes some discipline to put things away as soon as I am done with them rather than thinking to myself, "I'll pick it all up at the end." 

Order to Chaos

In the midst of post-Christmas clean up I always get the urge to purge.  With all the stress of recent events, bringing order to the chaos has been cathartic. 

I started in the kitchen with our pantry.  The left door of our pantry was hanging crooked and two of the hinges had completely pulled out.  With only one door left on the pantry I have been unable to use the child safety lock, which has meant that Lil' Hoot has free access to the contents.


Before

As you can see, the lower half of the pantry was barely in use.  Our bread was stored on top of the cabinet to avoid being squished.  All my baking supplies are shoved onto one small shelf so that I had to dig to find things and often had no idea what supplies I had on hand.  The art supplies were haphazardly thrown into a basket where I could never find what I needed and had to stretch just to reach it.  Not to mention the eyesore of a half doorless pantry.

After

As a temporary solution for the door I used wood glue to put the chipped wood back into place and reattach the hinges.  I spread out my baking supplies on two shelves with clear containers so I can also see what is behind the first level.  The breads and crackers moved back down to their original home on a pull out shelf.  I added a bucket on the lower left to hold root vegetables.  Lil' Hoot still rearranges the pantry from time to time but since I can now put the safety lock in place, her access is better supervised. 
I also slipped our foot stool on the lower left side so I could also make use of the upper level cabinets for storing supplies for arts and crafts.  I found that an old Velvetta container was the perfect size for storing colored pencils.  Lil' Hoot's crayon bucket and a yet-to-be covered markers bucket fit perfectly to the left of the supplies basket. 

Such simple changes that make baking, cooking and crafting more accesible and enjoyable on a daily basis!  Any tips for making it even better?  How do you organize your kitchen?